CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Browns aren’t the only ones lining up for that pot of unclaimed state cash — now the Cavs and Guardians want $105 million too, even as the money is tied up in court and Gateway can’t scrape together enough to fix the buildings it already owns.
We’re talking about those greedy sports teams owners on Today in Ohio.
Listen online here.
Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.
You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.
Here’s what we’re asking about today:
The billionaire owners of the Cavs and Guardians have come up with a new way to put their hand out for public dollars for the Cleveland arena and stadium. What are they requesting?
We talked about the Ohio Republican efforts to suppress voting yesterday. Today, let’s talk about Donald Trump’s efforts with Republicans in Congress to stop you from casting a ballot. Let’s talk about the ridiculously named SAVE Act.
Ohio’s wealthiest resident, Les Wexner, opened his testimony before Congress bout his relationship with Jeff Epstein with one of the most preposterous, self-serving statements we’ve ever heard. Was Congress buying it?
Even though Ohio legislators finally took the property tax crisis seriously and adopted some genuine reforms, angry taxpayers are not soothed. Voters would still see a ballot question to abolish the taxes altogether, throwing the entire state into chaos, with no way to pay for schools, parks, libraries, hospitals and more. Are any more reforms planned?
Another day, another shipwreck discovery. What’s the second big Great Lakes shipwreck announcement this week – this time in Lake Erie?
How is University Hospitals helping some diabetes patients permanently get rid of the need for insulin injections?
For decades, this event has been a winter tradition in Cleveland, but this is the last time we will see it in its longstanding form. What is it, and what happens next?
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Read a transcript of today’s episode. This text was computer generated and may contain misspellings:
Chris Quinn (00:01.724)
I cannot believe how many ways the owners of our sports teams try and stick it to the public to pay for their palaces, but they’ve come up with yet another plan. And we’re talking about it on Today in Ohio. It’s the news podcast discussion from thecleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Courtney Astolfi, Lisa Garvin, and Leila Attasi. And Leila, like I said, the billionaire owners of the Cavs and the Guardians.
have come up with an entirely new way to put their hand out for public dollars for the Cleveland Arena and Stadium. What are they requesting?
Leila (00:39.0)
They are going after the same pot of state money that lawmakers have been trying to use for the Browns new stadium. These are those unclaimed funds. Both the Cavs and Guardians have applied for a combined $105 million from this new state program that they’re calling the Ohio Sports Facility Performance Grant. It lets pro teams request up to 25 % of renovation or construction costs. The Cavs are asking for $40 million.
toward about 161 million in work at Rocket Arena. The Guardians are seeking $65 million toward roughly $259 million in projects at Progressive Field. A lot of this stems from a facilities assessment that found about $412 million in needed repairs between the arena and ballpark over the rest of their leases. We’re talking about a lot of aging infrastructure, elevators, hot water tanks, concession areas, plus modernization projects.
The CAVs are also framing some of their upgrades around preparations for a potential WNBA return in 2028. Now, technically, the buildings are owned by Gateway Economic Development Corporation. That’s the public nonprofit landlord. And Gateway is broke. Syntax revenues that cigarette and alcohol tax voters approved years ago, it no longer covers repair costs. Gateway has already needed a $40 million bailout from the city and county just to stay afloat.
At one point it even had to defer other projects to scrape together money for urgent fixes at the ballpark. There’s currently almost no cushion left, especially at the arena. In fact, Gateway still owes the Cavs millions for prior work. So this state money the teams are chasing comes from that pool of unclaimed funds that lawmakers tapped for the Browns proposed $600 million stadium deal. And that money is currently tied up in court. A judge has blocked it and there’s no guarantee any of it will be released.
Even if the Cavs and Guardians win their grants, the program works on a reimbursement too. So that means Gateway would have to front the money first and then get paid back, which is awkward because Gateway doesn’t have any money. So, you know, local leaders, including County Executive Chris Renane are also pushing to increase the syntax rates, possibly putting that on the November ballot, but that would require state approval and then voter approval. other ideas are the special financing district, but
Chris Quinn (02:58.257)
All right.
Leila (03:02.169)
It hasn’t gone anywhere either, so.
Chris Quinn (03:03.902)
Let’s stop for a sec. This was not what the stadium fund was contemplated for when Mike DeWine proposed it. He had proposed other kinds of funding, but it doesn’t matter. This was supposed to be a fund for new stadiums or for the kind of renovations we did at the arena a few years back. It was never stated this would be used for nickel and dime repairs. These guys are scumbags, man. I cannot believe they’re doing this.
They are trying to get more public money to tune up their places so they can make more money by gouging fans who go to them. Here’s the thing. If the state approves this, if the state starts talking about this, I would set a condition that they must rewrite their lease with Gateway, where Gateway is never again responsible for a single dollar to be spent there. That this will become the source of money
and anything extra must come from the teams because what I think they’re going to do, they’re going to get this money and then still go to Gateway and say, well, you still have to do this, this and this. And we’re still going to get gouged as taxpayers to pay for it. You can’t have it all. If we’re going to use this fund for these nickel and dime repairs, which I’m not sure that that’s a great idea, then that’s it. But that’s not what they want. They just want more and more and more. And it just goes into their pockets. They get
all the money that’s collected from fans who go there. We don’t get it. The taxpayers suspend all this cash. Don’t get it. The billionaires get it. This is a crime against the taxpayer.
Leila (04:40.486)
Well, and even if the state money comes through, it doesn’t actually solve Gateway’s structural problem because this grant and program is one-time project-based money. But the underlying issue is that the syntax model no longer generates enough revenue to maintain two aging facilities long term. So unless there is that fix, that sustainability piece that you’re talking about, whether that’s higher syntaxes, a new revenue stream, or renegotiated lease terms, we’re
Chris Quinn (05:06.652)
No!
Leila (05:08.966)
We’re going to find ourselves back in the same spot in five or 10 years staring at another nine figure repair list and another public funding request. So this, the public financing model for Gateway is fundamentally broken. That’s a fact.
Chris Quinn (05:17.45)
But stop, stop, Laila. You’re neglecting though that they both have just done or are doing the massive renovations. We spent a god-awful fortune to completely convert that arena into a modern facility in recent years and Progressive Field is getting that kind of renovation now. Those are the big renovations.
This other stuff they’re trying to get is the nickel and dime stuff that they constantly put onto Gateway. So if this is the new source for Gateway, Gateway should be completely absolved of ever again spending a dime there. And when you say Gateway doesn’t have the money to front it, they shouldn’t. The team should front it. The teams want this stuff done, put up the money and Gateway will reimburse you when they get it from the state. This thing needs a gigantic enema. This is a bad plan.
where these folks are just trying to skim the public money from all of us again with very little oversight or discussion. They need to hit the brakes fully at the state house and say, wait a minute, let’s talk about what the right way to handle this is. I can’t believe these underhanded bums went and filed these applications with no public discussion. I we just talked yesterday about the syntax. And apart from that, they’re seeking gigantic fortunes of public dollars. Unbelievable story.
Leila (06:37.746)
The problem is the lease. mean, that really is the problem. That keeps Gateway on the hook for every single thing that they, this, you know, $412 million in repairs at this facilities assessment claims that these parks, these ballparks need. I mean, the lease needs to be completely overhauled.
Chris Quinn (06:59.292)
Yeah, and and they shouldn’t get a dime of this money without that overall because the only way this is a good idea is if you and I never have to spend another penny on these palaces that enrich the billionaire sports owners at the expense of all of us. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We talked about the Ohio Republican efforts to suppress voting yesterday. Today.
Courtney, let’s talk about Donald Trump’s efforts with Republicans in Congress to stop you from casting a ballot. Let’s talk about the ridiculously named SAVE Act.
Courtney (07:35.124)
Yeah, this bill, it passed the US House last week. It still has to go to the Senate. Not sure how it’ll shake out there, but you know, we got approval from the House, mostly a party line vote here in Ohio. All Republicans went for it and support. All Democrats opposed. And it would require Americans to present documentary proof of US citizenship, like a passport or a birth certificate that’s certified.
when registering to vote in federal elections. And critics say that’s especially concerning for the estimated 70 million women in this country who changed their names after marriage. Their birth certificates probably don’t match their current legal names and that would throw up hurdles trying to cast their vote or get registered to vote. Critics warn this would also jeopardize, you know, a bunch of other things, those wide scale voter registration drives.
and voter signup events that add new folks to the polls, online registration that’s used in other states. But looking at how this would affect folks who have changed their names, know, states, you know, what they’d have to do is present some kind of proof of citizenship here. And the bill doesn’t exactly spell out how that would be done. The states have to establish their own process. We’d have to see what that would be.
But long and short of it is, you know, it’s looking like you’d have to provide additional documentation that may or may not be easy to provide here.
Lisa Garvin (09:09.294)
you
Chris Quinn (09:09.526)
Can you say misogyny? Of course, there’s a law that’s going to penalize all sorts of women to try and block them from voting. Way to go, Republicans. Donald Trump wants to be king. He doesn’t want anybody to vote. And they keep coming up with ways to make it harder. This would lock out a whole lot of people from voting. These documents are not the easiest to get, and it sticks it to women. It’s going to keep women from voting. What kind of country are we? Are we just going to abolish the
the suffrage amendment in the Constitution. It’s ridiculous what they’re doing. And I’m surprised that women are not standing up saying to the Republican Party, you’re anti-women, we’re leaving you. Because that’s what this is doing. It is directed fully at women.
Courtney (09:53.966)
Yeah, there’s no other way to read this. And like you said, Chris, those passports and those certified birth certificates aren’t easy to get. You’d have to show that, you know, that was you on that birth certificate because your current ID doesn’t match that name. This is just scary. I mean, I’ve been seeing in women’s social media spaces for over a year now, folks screaming about what this would mean if it moves through Congress. You know, I’ve even seen discussions like
hey young women if you’re getting married anytime soon keep your name this is moving through so it’s got people very scared and reasonably so
Lisa Garvin (10:32.944)
Here’s what I don’t understand though. To get a real ID you have to produce a birth certificate and or a passport. So why isn’t a real ID good enough anymore?
Chris Quinn (10:41.734)
Right, exactly. The real ID was supposed to be the guaranteed document. again, like you said, look, this is one where if women really stood up and said to the Republicans, you’re anti-women, it would scare them because they’re all running for reelection in Congress this year. They don’t want more than half the population to think that they’re out to get them, which this most certainly is.
And I think if women got vocal about this, they could cower these guys into stepping away from this. It’s an obscenity. We’re a country that is so proud of our voting systems, which have been sacrosanct and fraud proof and all of it. And we are about to wipe out suffrage. It’s one of those amazing moments. And I’m surprised there’s not more protest.
Leila (11:36.218)
And what’s ironic about this is that women change their name when they get married because of a sexist tradition in this country of taking your husband’s name. And now they’re being punished for that.
Courtney (11:36.43)
Come here.
Chris Quinn (11:49.636)
Yeah, yeah, and this is the marriage party, right? They want you to get married. They want you to change your name, but then they’re not going to let you vote barefoot and pregnant. That’s what the Republicans want out of women in the United States. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Ohio’s wealthiest resident, Wexner, opened his testimony before Congress about his relationship with Jeff Epstein with one of the most preposterous self-serving statements we’ve ever heard. Lisa, was Congress buying that?
Lisa Garvin (12:18.775)
Apparently not. So the Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee deposed Ohio billionaire Les Wexner at his new Albany estate yesterday. A Democrat from California, Robert Garcia says, we believe Wexner gave a billion dollars in financial support to Jeffrey Epstein, which enabled his sex trafficking ring and that Wexner knows more than he’s letting on. He said without Wexner support, there would be no Epstein Island.
and you know and and and other stuff and also apparently Epstein claimed you know that he influenced Victoria’s Secret to attract hopeful models that were then put into his ring and abused instead but Wexner said well you know I was you know I was naive Epstein was a con man and while I was conned I’ve done nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide so
He said he cut ties after he realized that Epstein stole hundreds of millions of dollars from him. Maryland Democrat Steve Lynch says, one victim says she was assaulted at Wexner’s mansion. And he says, the more this deposition goes on, the less Wexner seems to know about his relationship with Epstein. And, you know, people were talking, you know, Wexner is 88. But Lynch says he’s perfectly competent and lucid at 88. He’s just not telling the truth.
Chris Quinn (13:40.958)
Come on. The thing that has come through more and more is all these guys were aware of what was happening. And many part hook of the sins. So to claim that I didn’t know anything when you’re that close to the guy, that doesn’t pass the sniff test at all. There’s no way people in Epstein’s circle can say they weren’t aware of what was going on. And I Congress is right to say he’s not telling the truth.
What strikes me though, Lisa, is all the other countries in the world that have high level people, government people and business people who are coming up from these files, they’re all losing their jobs. You’re even getting charged with crimes. But in the United States, there’s no consequences for the many, many names that are in these files that clearly, clearly were part of Epstein’s sick club.
Lisa Garvin (14:27.31)
None.
Lisa Garvin (14:34.979)
Yeah, and I just read this morning that I think Prince Andrew is getting arrested. Yeah, so...
Chris Quinn (14:38.534)
He got arrested, right? Because of what came out in the release of those files, when will it be? And the reason, you know why there’s no consequences, because there’s no name that’s in there more often than Donald Trump. So if you’re going to start charging people in America with doing bad things, you’re going to have to look at Donald Trump. His name is in there repeatedly. Yeah.
Lisa Garvin (14:59.129)
There’s also another Ohio connection here. They’re going to depose others with ties to Wexner, and that includes Ohio State University Medical School Professor Mark Landon, who apparently got thousands in payments from Jeffrey Epstein, but he says he didn’t provide any care to either Epstein or his victims.
Chris Quinn (15:16.836)
Yeah, the denials that are flying in this. I clearly, Epstein knew exactly what he was doing. He provided this this machinery of sex to people in exchange for running in the in the high flying world. And everybody’s trying to duck it. At least other countries are taking it seriously. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
Even though Ohio legislators finally took the property tax crisis seriously at the end of last year and adopted some real reforms, angry taxpayers are not soothed. Voters could still see a ballot question to abolish those taxes altogether, which would throw the state into chaos with no way to pay for schools, parks, libraries, hospitals, and the rest of it. Laila, are we going to see any more reforms before that thing hits the ballot?
Leila (16:08.722)
It feels unlikely. Lawmakers, you know, they finally passed this big $3 billion property tax reform package in December after months of negotiating and even overriding Governor DeWine. House Speaker Matt Hoffman basically has said that was pretty exhausting. Trying to replicate that kind of overhaul again before they break for campaign season in June just isn’t realistic, he said. And that doesn’t mean the issue goes away. I frustration over rising property tax bills is still boiling.
there is still an activist led effort underway to put that constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would abolish property taxes entirely. Those signatures are due in July. If that makes the ballot, voters could be asked to blow up the entire system that funds schools and parks and everything. And lawmakers would be left scrambling to figure out how to replace billions in local revenue. But as for new reforms, there are proposals floating around the state house. One lawmaker wants to phase out permanent levies.
Another proposal would shift school construction debt to the states and restructure how schools are funded. There’s even a bill to protect seniors from tax lien enforcement, but most of these ideas have barely moved. Some have had a single hearing, others haven’t had any at all. So politically, this is kind of in a holding pattern. Leadership says the big reform package they passed will start taking effect in March and phase in over the next few years. Supporters call it a pretty strong first step, but critics say it
It just doesn’t fix the structural reliance on local property taxes.
Chris Quinn (17:38.844)
Here’s what’s funny about what Huffman’s saying about how tired they are and how much work it was. If this passes in November, they’re going to be having to work much harder than they’ve ever worked before to fix it. And if it happens in November, there’s only one or two ways to go. It’s the sales tax, which they can’t really solve the problem with that, or the income tax, which they will. They’ll have to raise the income tax to cover. So why not?
Leila (18:04.892)
Right.
Chris Quinn (18:08.142)
Knowing that that’s where you’re going to end up in a bad way because you’d have to raise it by a lot to bring in 24 billion dollars Why not go back and do a little bit of it now and say to the voters we heard you We are shifting the burden Partly back onto the wealthy. We know that you think you bear too much as property owners We’re shifting it back that would carry a lot of weight. I think the voters these guys have given
billions of dollars to rich people billions and billions to rich people with these income tax cuts while making the rest of us foot the bill that’s what you could do because if they don’t they’re going to have to raise the income tax by way more than they would have to do now
Leila (18:51.59)
Right. And that’s how this is how Republicans in the state house roll, man. I mean, they’re trying to thread this needle offering relief without confronting the bigger truth that Ohio relies on property taxes because the state has shifted responsibility for funding schools and local services to the communities. And if voters reject property taxes, right, the state would, like you said, have to raise income tax or sales tax dramatically.
or slash funding for schools and police and fire and libraries and parks. that conversation is just not happening. They are turning a blind eye to that at the State House. And the train is coming down the track. This can be calamitous for us if this passes.
Chris Quinn (19:35.42)
Well, he
But here’s what they don’t get. If we end up in chaos, the voters are going to blame them. And I don’t care how gerrymandered the state is, they will throw them out. They’ll tar and feather them and run them out of town on a rail. If we end up in chaos, where the schools have no funding or our income tax is triple or something, who do you think is going to get the blame? It’s going to be the Republicans that gave all the money to the rich people.
It’s such an easy message to get out there that they face the end of their super majorities if they don’t figure this out. So to say I’m tired, we did a lot of work, I don’t think we can pull it off. What’s wrong with you, man? It’s going to be much worse if this keeps going the way it’s going.
Leila (20:15.407)
You would think.
Leila (20:24.924)
Well, I don’t know, you would think that they would shoulder the blame, but the voters, I just don’t think that the voters put it together. I don’t think that they see it that way. If they’re voting for this proposition, then they are shooting themselves in the foot. They’re not smart enough to put it together and realize that who’s really to blame for all of this. It’s, well.
Chris Quinn (20:46.678)
I think they will. I think they will. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Some winners, the numbers of consecutive days with snow on the ground can be counted on one hand, but not this year, obviously. Now that we’ve thought out and we could see the brown mush of plant life again, Lisa, what is the official number for our snowpack?
Lisa Garvin (20:58.511)
Thank
Lisa Garvin (21:06.575)
So according to National Weather Service data, February 15th ended 31 days of measurable snow on the ground at Hopkins Airport. It began on January 15th and ended on Valentine’s Day with at least one inch of snow on the ground recorded each day. So this is measured on a cleared observation surface at the airport. So they don’t include snow piles, by snow plows. We had a similar stretch of 31 days in 2022.
That was from January 17th to February 16th. And that was also ended by a sharp warmup, which we had this week. So the record since moving to Hopkins in 1938 was the winter of 1944-45. 73 days with snow cover on the ground from December 11th to February 21st, 1945. That is just amazing. I probably would have had cabin fever with all that.
Now we are gonna turn colder this weekend. might get a few snow showers as well. So we’re not out of the woods yet, but here’s kind of a sobering statistic. So in Cleveland, the average snowfall for March is 10.8 inches.
Chris Quinn (22:16.222)
The deceptive part of this though is we got snow in Thanksgiving and pretty much had snow on the ground all through December. Not 31 days, but a lot of days. We had it go away for a little while and then we hit the 31 days. But if I think back across this winter, I can remember very few days where you could see the plant life on the ground. was around New Year’s there was a day and then I guess because this started
Lisa Garvin (22:30.979)
Mm-hmm.
Lisa Garvin (22:42.083)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (22:44.958)
31 days ago, would have been mid January we had it. But do you, don’t you feel like we’ve had snow on the ground pretty much since Thanksgiving?
Lisa Garvin (22:54.247)
Like you said, there was that brief and it was maybe a couple of weeks at most because we had a green Christmas and then it started up on January 15th. yeah, we didn’t see too much grass this year.
Chris Quinn (23:05.117)
Yeah, no.
No, we didn’t. And what we’re seeing now looks pretty modeled. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Another day, another shipwreck discovery. What’s the second big Great Lakes shipwreck announcement this week, Courtney? And this time it’s in Lake Erie.
Courtney (23:23.662)
Yeah, this one has another strong Northeast Ohio connection. This newly discovered wreck we learned about yesterday in Lake Erie, it’s been identified as the Clough and it’s a 125 foot stone hauling vessel that was built in Lorraine in 1867. Now it didn’t have a long time on Lake Erie. It went down just a year later in 1868 while it was transporting stone across the lake.
But this identification was big news. We learned from the National Museum of the Great Lakes out in Toledo had been working with Cleveland Underwater Explorers, which is a nonprofit dive group that’s been documenting shipwrecks here for over two decades. So this crew was working on, you know, they conducted multiple site visits. They went in and did detailed mapping, historical research, and they’ve confirmed that this wreck that’s been found is the Clough.
They didn’t share the exact location, just like we didn’t have for the one we learned about earlier this week. But you know, we’re going to be talking more to them and learning more about how this unfolded. We did learn that the ship was built for Cory owner Baxter Clough out of Amherst. And it was 26 feet wide, 125 feet long, and it had three masts.
Chris Quinn (24:43.568)
I you wonder if it was just taken for granted that when you built the ship back in those days, it wasn’t going to last long. Dozens of these things sank every year. The one we talked about earlier lasted just a few years before it was done. This one lasted a year. The investment, you would think, in building a boat like this, you would need it to be around for a while. But maybe the economics of these things were, yeah, we build it.
We ship as much as we can and then they sink because they sank a lot.
Courtney (25:16.118)
I mean, definitely, but you got to also think I think the volume of what was moving around the Great Lake then how many cars get totaled on our road now. I know it’s not like a perfect, you know, comparison, but this was the dominant form of moving people and product around. And we were on America’s highway by living on the Great Lakes for this kind of movement. You know, one thing I found really interesting about this discovery, and again, we’re hoping to learn more, but this discovery is also tied to some really sad
news here. So this diving group, its founder, David Van Sant, you know, you may remember back in 2024 when he died in Lake Erie while doing some of his work. He passed away in June 2024. And we learned that this wreck site is tied to his death. We’re hoping to learn more, but sad for the folks who lost him and worked alongside him.
Chris Quinn (26:09.906)
You raise an interesting question. I wonder how many boats were operating in commerce on the Great Lakes on any given day back then. If you stood on the lakefront back in the 1870s, would you just have seen huge numbers of ships and schooners and other craft out on the lake doing business? Because maybe you’re right. Maybe the number of wrecks
is comparable to the number of highway wrecks with millions of cars. It’d be interesting to kind of paint that picture for people by doing a historical story. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. How is University Hospitals helping some diabetes patients permanently get rid of the need for insulin injections, Lisa?
Courtney (26:45.966)
Yeah.
Lisa Garvin (26:56.611)
Yeah, this is a real light bulb moment. So is treating type 1 diabetes with infusions of healthy insulin producing islet cells that they take from donated organs. The therapy is known as Lantidra and it’s been around. It was approved in 2023 by the FDA, but only now widely available. So endocrinology chief Dr. Betel Hatapoglu says for some patients it will be a complete cure for type 1 diabetes.
70 % of people in clinical trials no longer needed insulin after one year, 34 % didn’t need it after five years. So these islet cells from deceased organ donors pancreas are made into a liquid transfusion and it’s put into a vein that goes directly into the liver. And they say that delivery method is less challenging than doing it in the pancreas or doing a pancreas transplant. But patients on Lantidra do have to take immunosuppressive drugs.
that may take up to three infusions before they’re able to drop their insulin. So started this treatment late last year. They’re looking for candidates and the candidates, you’re managing your diabetes, you’re not a candidate for this. You have to have at least one dangerous low blood sugar event per year and you have to match the donated pancreas.
Chris Quinn (28:15.704)
The anti-rejection drugs would make you a little nervous, you would think, because when you’re getting your immune system to quiet down, then how vulnerable are you to other kinds of infections? But it’s another big technological advance, especially for Cleveland. Cleveland seems to always be at the center of these advances. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
Lisa Garvin (28:19.744)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (28:41.704)
for decades this event has been a winter tradition in Cleveland but this is the last time we will see it in its long-standing form. Courtney what is it and what happens after this year?
Courtney (28:53.262)
40 years the Cleveland Auto Show has been at the IAC Center and that run is coming to an end with this year’s show. It’s the very last at the IAC Center. Now we know organizers are already looking at options for 2027, perhaps, you know, the Huntington Convention Center, but nothing’s nailed down. But for this last final ride down at the IAC Center, you know, we talked to Lou Vitantonio, president of the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association.
He calls this farewell show bittersweet, but he also described a lot of the attractions, you know, folks have come to love over the years and it’s going to go forward this year. We’re going to have to see what the visitation is like, but last year it was about 114,000 people down at the auto show over that 10 day span. We’ll see what this year holds, whether can play a role on how many folks turn out, but there’s going to be 600 to 700 vehicles on display, test drives, giveaways, theme days.
a kid area, there’s going to be a $300,000 Cadillac Celestique on display, ride-in drives for Tesla models, Subaru, Chrysler Dodge, Fiat, you know, a lot of the things that folks have come to enjoy.
Chris Quinn (30:07.004)
Have you ever been there?
Courtney (30:08.546)
I went once as a kid, cars aren’t my thing, but I can see why folks would, you know, enjoy it.
Chris Quinn (30:14.054)
Laila, we see if you’ve ever been
Leila (30:16.479)
Only to cover it for you.
Chris Quinn (30:18.324)
hahahaha
Lisa Garvin (30:18.645)
and I used to go to the Texas Auto Show. I just love classic cars. I’m surprised I haven’t been since I’ve been back here. But yeah, I love a good auto show. And it’s a shame because honestly, IEX is the only place to hold like an event where you bring in like hundreds of vehicles. The same with the boat show. It’s like, I don’t see how they can do that downtown, quite frankly.
Chris Quinn (30:39.58)
Yeah, it’ll be difficult. I went once too and it was overwhelming. It’s a big deal. And I don’t think you can do it as big downtown. So last chance to do it. And it’s going to be there until what? March 1st, Courtney, I think it said.
Courtney (30:55.372)
Yeah, it’ll run for 10 days.
Chris Quinn (31:00.092)
You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Thursday episode. Thanks Courtney. Thanks Lisa. Thanks Leila. Thank you for being here. Friday will wrap up a week of news.